Dark Secrets
by C.J. Worthington
Summary: One day during a snow storm, three mysterious travelers show up on the Fairy Tail guild door step. With them, they bring secrets, trials, and tragedy. Who are these travelers? Do they mean well for the guild? Or do they bring some other dubious plan with their arrival?
1. The Travelers

**The events of the this story take place starting in mid January of the year X792 after the events of Tenrou Island. The Grand Magical Games never occurred and the guilds reputation has been rebuilding after the return of the strongest members.**

Three cloaked figures trudged up the snow covered path, silent and determined with their faces hidden from the unforgiving winds. They had been traveling for weeks now. No one knew who they were or where they were going, but no one dared to ask. Something about them worried those that saw the strangers. Two of the figures were smaller than an average adult and quite slender. Their features were indistinguishable under their heavy black traveling cloaks, but it seemed obvious to those who passed by that they might be children. Many would be concerned, if it weren't for the ominous figure they were traveling with. Instead of stopping to help the two children, people would give a wide berth, fearful of the creature that trotted between them. Covered in a heavy black cloak as well, all that could be seen were the four slender legs and the giant paws leaving deep tracks in its wake. Its hooded head held down and its massive shoulders nearly reached the tops of the two it walked between. The group rarely stopped, but for the occasional rest in the dark. They were on a mission, set on reaching their destination; Magnolia. Dark secrets followed these travelers. Secrets that would soon come to light. Secrets that could cause destruction and pain to those who learned them.

"Say that again, you pink-haired freak!" Gray yelled.

"You heard me the first time, frostbite! It's your fault we failed our last mission!" Natsu hollered back.

"And how's that, huh?"

"I would never have dropped the vase if you hadn't frozen the ground. We were supposed to deliver it in one piece, not a million!"

"It's not my fault you're a clumsy idiot," Gray retorted. "The ground was already frozen when we reached it. Or have you already forgotten, it's been snowing for almost a week now." The fight continued on.

A few tables over, Lucy was sitting down with her head in her hands. The members of Team Shadow Gear were sitting around her watching the fray of the two boys. "How am I supposed to pay for rent when those two are always messing up the missions?" She moaned through her hands. "If things keep going the way they have been, I'll be living in a box under a bridge soon."

"Ah, cheer up Lu. At least the client didn't make you pay for the vase." Levy said encouragingly from across the table.

"Well if the vase hadn't been broken in the first place, the client would have actually paid us for the job." She grumbled, lifting her head from her hands, only to lay it on the table a second after raising it.

"Maybe you could join my team on a mission some time," Levy suggested.

"Yeah, really? You guys wouldn't mind?" She inquired excitedly. Jet and Droy shook their heads nonchalantly. They weren't really listening to the conversation. The fight with Gray and Natsu raged on and the two seemed pretty interested in the shenanigans.

"Not a bit. It could be fun! Also, I would love to have a girl to talk with while we traveled." Levy said with a smirk. "These boys aren't very good with girl talk ya know?"

"Thanks, Levy! That sounds like a good idea!" Lucy said happily, now smiling.

"No problem! Of course, we'll have to wait for this storm to blow over. The request board has been looking pretty empty since it started."

"Yeah, I know..." Lucy replied with less enthusiasm again. "I wonder when it's supposed to stop."

Outside, the storm raged on. The normally bustling town of Magnolia was deserted, except for the occasional shopper scurrying to their next stop for errands when the wind wasn't blowing as hard. The whole place was covered with a thick white blanket of snow. The streets were slippery, and the water at the edge of the town was completely frozen over. Normally, the children would take this rare opportunity to go ice-skating on the sturdy ice, but the wind was so unforgiving and the air so bitterly cold that not even the bravest child wanted to venture out. Many roads in and out of Magnolia had been closed down due to the unnatural storm, which stretched out far within the borders of Fiore.

Inside the guild, the members of Fairy Tail were getting very restless. This was one of the worst storms they had seen in a while. The cold seemed to go on forever, promising no visible end, and leaving many cooped up and penniless, due to the requests being so few. The wind outside whipped up snow, slamming it hard against the windows and causing eerie wailing noises as it blew. However the guild was, thankfully, very warm inside and despite the weather, the members found ways to stay occupied.

"Can I get another round over here Mira?" Cana asked, setting down yet another empty mug.

"Of course," Mirajane replied happily.

"I think a hot bowl of soup would be great!" Macao told Kinana.

"Sure, what kind do you want?" She inquired.

"Carla, do you think it's alright for Lily and Gajeel to be fighting in the guild right now?" Wendy squeaked nervously. "Maybe we should try to stop them before they break something. Especially since it looks like we might be stuck here for a while" The two boys had started sparring with each other a couple minutes ago. Panther Lily had assumed his full form and he was holding his sword in the ready position while Gajeel held his arm up, shaped as the Iron Dragon's Sword.

"I think we should just let them be. It's none of my concern whether those two morons break anything," Carla retorted hotly taking a small sip from her steaming teacup. "As long as they don't get too close to me, I don't care what they do." She flashed an angry look at them as they started circling each other, planning their next move.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, despite the current situation. Though most longed to be out on a job, they took the opportunity to enjoy each others' company. Not often were there so many guild members present for so long. The air was filled with the smells of warm food and hot beverages. Laughter interlaced with the many conversations and, of course, the occasional dispute in a joyous melody that brought comfort to those within the guild.

Then without warning, the room temperature dropped drastically. The main door to the guild was slammed open. Frozen wind and snowflakes swept mercilessly through the halls, chilling everyone to the core. All the conversations stopped abruptly, and the guild dropped into a surprised silence. The only sound to be heard now was the wind rushing in. All eyes were now turned to the open doorway and the three cloaked figures standing within it.


	2. Friend or Foe

The wind whipped brutally through the guild hall chilling the patrons within. Everyone stared at the strangers as they began to move into the building, carefully shutting the doors behind them. Once they were closed, everyone sat in silence for a few moments, the strangers cautiously watching the guild members. Even though warmth had slowly begun to spread through the hall already, everyone still felt chilled to the core. The visitors seemed to let off a less than welcoming presence with there heavy black cloaks concealing all of their features. The guild members could feel the tension welling up around them as the newcomers continued to stand unmoving by the door. Silence echoed through the guild. Some shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Two or three people had carefully stood up to get a better look. Gajeel and Lily had stopped their mock battle to watch as well.

"Hi there," Master Makarov said pleasantly, causing many within the walls to jump at the sudden voice. "Please, remove your cloaks and hang them up. Mira, could you please bring our guests something warm to drink? I'm sure they must be cold and tired after trekking about in a storm like this." He said with practiced generosity. Silently, Mirajane slipped into the back to grab some drinks."Maybe you could take a seat and we could bring you some food too. Then we can get down to the business of why you have come." Though the Master's words sounded friendly, there was a veiled hint of suspicion within.

"We need to speak with you, Master Makarov," said a deep female voice. The Fairy Tail members looked around shocked. The creature in between the two small humans was the one that spoke. Then, swinging its massive hooded head around to look at the scene within, the creature added firmly, "Privately." Confused, the guild looked on. The intruders had not yet taken off their cloaks. Instead, they stood side by side, the melted snow dripping off of them into an ever-growing puddle on the floor, waiting for Makarov's response.

"Very well." He replied after a while. "Come with me to my office." Walking to the back of the guild, he guided the three figures to his office. All eyes were still on the travelers. No one dared to look away, until after they had vanished around a corner. Then everyone sat in silence for a moment. They looked around in confusion, hoping someone would say something that would explain what just happened.

"Who were they?" Juvia asked quietly. She looked around at her fellow guildmates.

"I don't know, but I don't like the smell of 'em," Gajeel replied, suspiciously eyeing the place where they had just disappeared.

"Did you see the size of that creature? It was huge! I wonder what it was. And how come it can speak? Doesn't that seem a bit strange?" Wakaba asked in a rush, his cigarette almost slipping from his mouth as the words tumbled out.

"Why is it so strange that she could talk?" Lily asked, a little annoyed.

"Yeah, what about Carla and I, we Exceeds can talk. So can dragons." Happy piped in.

"Where have our guests gone?" Mirajane asked, returning with three steaming drinks on a plate. The wavy white haired girls reappearance had, unbeknownst to her, stopped the beginnings of a quarrel.

"They went to the back with the Master." Macao replied, "Apparently, they had something to discuss with him that they couldn't say around us."

"Do you think the Master will be alright?" Wendy asked concerned. "Maybe someone should have gone with him..."

"This is the Master we are talking about here," Erza replied. All eyes shifter eagerly to the sure-spoken redheaded female. "He can take care of himself. Besides, who are we to so quickly judge this group? I know something seems off about them when they are wearing those cloaks, but let's not start jumping to conclusions, when we know nothing about them." Her words seem to put some of their fears to rest a bit, but the guild still felt uneasy at the circumstance. Everyone sat in an anxious silence for a few moments more. Those brave enough to speak would only do so in whispers now. The tension only grew as the minutes ticked by.

The master returned alone, coming around the corner looking serious. "I have come with quite a bit of shocking news. The travelers you saw are members of Fairy Tail. They have returned after having been gone for nine years. Please welcome them back as you would any of your current guild members." He looked around the guild at all of his children, his eyes resting for a half second longer on Mirajane. "Also, do to the current circumstances, please, do not question too deeply into their return. Or their previous departure. I know you will all be very curious when you see who they are, but I promise you, all of your questions will be answered in due time." With that, he walked back around the corner and vanished, heading back to his office. The guild waited in an eager silence, curious to see who it was that the master had been talking about.

The first one to come around the corner was a massive light gray wire-haired wolfhound. Her legs were long and slender and they ended in massive cream-white paws. Starting at her throat was a thin streak of cream-white fur that stretched and widened across her belly, leaving the insides of her legs halfway to her paws with the same color fur. A streak of this fur also ran a short length from her nose tip to the beginning of her ears which were long and hanging, the edges tipped in black. She had a long slender tail that was also tipped with black that curled towards her back. The massive head that rested upon the wide shoulders swung back and forth as she addressed the whole guild. A large scar sat visibly upon her muzzle and her deep brown eyes showed wisdom as she swept them across the room.

"For those of you who do not remember me or are too new to the guild to know who I am, My name is Athena." She said in her powerful voice. "I am the guardian of the Kyuu family, or at least, what is left of it now. If you had not guessed already, the two traveling with me are Akajii and Meshiro Kyuu." At this, many members of the guild gasped. The newest members looked around in confusion while some of the older members carefully moved closer to get a better view.

Around the corner walked two women. They were obviously twins, but for a few differences. Both of them were short and skinny. Everyone would believe that they were still children, that is if most didn't already know how old they really were. They also had the same body type and facial structure. One was a redhead with brilliant green eyes. Her short hair stuck up all over the place as if a bird had tried to make a nest out of it. She wore a form-fitting red shirt that matched her hair, with an unzipped brown jacket, the sleeves not reaching far past her elbows. She had a thin silver chained necklace around her neck with a small eagle with spread wings as the charm and a black bracelet with short silver spikes all around it adorned both of her wrists. "I'm Akajii." She said simply. She kept had her hands shoved to the thumbs in the pockets of her black pants, and stared cautiously around the room.

The second girl had very long, straight, pure white hair tied up in a high ponytail. She was much paler than her sister and slightly gaunt as if she had just gotten over being sick. Her deep blue eyes scanned the room swiftly, taking in all the new and old faces with a slight smile. Memories flashed before her eyes of the years past before they had left. She had on a light blue shirt that fit more loosely than it should and dark gray pants. She wore tight white gloves that almost went up to her elbows. On her right wrist, she wore a bracelet with yellow flowers going all the way around. A light gray jacket was held close to her midsection with her left arm while her right was held up, giving a small wave to those in the room. "Hi, guys, I'm Meshiro." She said quietly

A sudden crash drew the attention of the entire guild to the bar area. The tray Mirajane had been holding had fallen to the ground, shattering the cups she had been carrying. The hot drinks from inside of them spreading rapidly across the floor, steam rising from the quickly fading heat. Without even picking up the tray, Mirajane sprinted out of the room. Lisanna got up from the back of the room and chased after her sister. Akajii glanced over at Lisanna as she ran, looking shocked. The smile quickly faded from Meshiro's face, she averted her eyes from the room and stared at the ground, dropping her right arm to her side.

The guild starred at the trio in utter disbelief. Everyone looked on in silence, unsure of what to do next.

"Hey, guys! Where ya been?" Natsu exclaimed happily. He walked over to the small group and grinned widely at them. Then the whole guild exploded in noise. Everyone was talking excitedly at once. The group was swarmed with the other Fairy Tail members, pushing and shoving each other, trying to get near so that they could get a closer look and talk directly to them.

After several minutes of this, Athena began to back away. "Alright." She growled pushing some guild members away roughly with her nose. "I think that's enough excitement for right now. We have traveled quite a ways to get here, and we need to rest." The girls obediently followed suit. They had been enjoying themselves, but Athena was right, they were both very tired from the trip and now all they wanted to do was get a hot meal and find a warm bed. The members began to break apart and started returning to their seats. The trio found a seat of their own a ways off from the rest of the guild. Kinana took their order and brought them some dinner.

As the group ate, a few of their guildmates came back over to sit with them, and even though Athena didn't want too much more attention around them, she allowed them to stay and talk. The first to come over was Elfman. After Kinana gave them their meal, he quietly came over and sat down across the table from the two girls. At the edge, Athena slightly growled, until she realized who it was. This beast of a man had once been very close to the Kyuu family. He didn't say anything at first, just looked at the table. It was obvious there was something on his mind.

"Hi Elfman," Meshiro said after a few minutes of silence. "How are you?"

"Everything's good," He said without looking up. "I was selected to do an S class trial."

"Really?" Meshiro responded with delight. "Well tell me, how did it go?"

"Oh, I didn't make the cut. No one did really..." He trailed off.

"Elfman," Meshiro said carefully. "I can tell you have something on your mind. What is it?" He kept his eyes down and didn't reply.

"Spit it out already!" Akajii said already annoyed. Meshiro glanced over quickly at her short-tempered sister readying a chastising retort, but returned her gaze to Elfman. He had finally looked up.

"When you guys first arrived, there was only three of you, and then Athena said that there weren't many people left in your family. So I was wondering..." He paused, looking at the girls with worried eyes.

"You wanted to know where my brother Michi is right? You guys were best friends before we left." Meshiro muttered softly. He looked down and nodded. "I'm sorry Elfman..." She gently touched his arm. "He didn't make the return journey with us. We-" She paused mid-sentence, carefully choosing her next words. "We lost him 3 years ago..." She stopped when she saw him nodding.

"I figured that was the case. I just wanted to hear it from one of you is all."

"I understand." She responded sadly. "I'm so sorry Elfman."

The group sat in silence once more. A few more people came over to chat after a while. Ezra wanted to hear about some of their adventures, and Athena begrudgingly shared a few of the more wild ones. Elfman perked up while she spoke and was soon yelling comments during the climactic parts. "That's a man!", which caused Natsu and Gray to wander over to hear these tales. Kinana came over to join as well after the busy lunch rush was over and listened in between drink calls. Everything had returned to the way it was before. The only ones missing from the guild hall were Mirajane and Lisanna.


	3. Breath

It had been four days since the trio arrived, and the storm was beginning to pass. The wind didn't blow quite as strongly and the air was starting to lose its icy grip The frozen water at the edge of town had become a tantalizing place to play, and the children were now carefully venturing out onto it.

The two girls had become comfortable being in the guild again. They already knew most of the guild members, and they got along well with the new ones also. Athena took a special interest in Wendy. Most of the time, she would sit in the back and watch the happenings of the guild, then Wendy would come over and sit with her. They wouldn't talk most of the time, just sit and watch. Mirajane, however, still refused to talk to the girls and wouldn't go anywhere near them. This confused many of the guild members. Before the girls had left, Mirajane and Meshiro had been almost impossible to separate. They were the best of friends, and they had hit it off rather quickly when the Strauss siblings had first joined the guild. Now, Mira barely looked at them.

Even though the family had been resting for the last few days, Meshiro continued to look worse. She had bags and dark spots under her eyes and had grown even paler. When she was in the guild, she would laugh and chat with those around her and pretend that everything was fine, but she didn't get up very often. It was as if she was too tired to stand. Most of the guild had begun to notice this, but whenever her diminishing appearance was brought up, Meshiro would skirt around the subject and change it as quickly as she could, so everyone respectfully stayed silent on the matter. It was rather hard for them though and the sisters began to notice that many people seemed to be keeping a close eye on her as if they were afraid something was going to suddenly happen.

With the roads beginning to open because of the warming weather, the guild was happy to see some requests coming in again, so the guild hall was quite empty now, as many teams had gone out that morning to start a job. The trio hadn't left on one and was sitting in the guild hall. Nab sat on a bench near them chatting with Meshiro. Akajii was silently glaring at the bar as Mira cleaned glasses and organized wine bottles. Athena sat in a corner, carefully watching the activities of everyone.

"-Then we told the villagers that we had relocated the monster instead of killing it, so they kicked us out," Meshiro explained.

"Wow! I can't believe they would do that! You guys worked so hard to convince it to leave, and how do they thank you? They kick you out. That's harsh." Nab exclaimed in disgust. "Did they at least pay you for it?"

"Well no..." *cough* "But we wouldn't have wanted them to anyways. If you had seen how strongly these villagers wanted this monster destroyed you would have understood. They didn't care anything about it and I don't think they ever even tried to negotiate with it either." She took a sip of water and cleared her throat. "Any money they would have given us would have been soiled by there evil intentions, and it would have left a black stain on the Fairy Tail Guild's good name." *cough* "Besides, it's not as if we were in need of the money. We just wanted to help them. But it seems the monster needed our help more. I just hope he is doing OK and keeping his promise to us to stay away from human villages from now on.

"That does make sense." Nab agreed. "I think you guys did the right thing."

"Thank you. That's very sweet of you to say."

"Ahh, no problem Shiro. I'm only telling it as I see."

The Master, who had been sitting on the counter chatting with Mira, jumped off and stretched, yawning loudly as he did so. "Well, I'm bushed." He said. "I think I'm going to head home and call it a day. Good night my children." And with that, he headed out the front door.

"Goodnight." Everyone called back in unison.

"I think the Master has a good idea. It's getting pretty late. I should probably start heading home soon too." Nab said.

"OK Nab" *cough* Meshiro replied softly. "Be careful out there though, there's still a lot of ice on the ground."

"I will. Night everyone." Nab called as he grabbed his coat and waved to everyone on his way out the door.

Now the only ones left in the guild were the twins, Athena, and Mirajane, who was busying herself by putting the last of the glasses away. The guild was silent, except for the sound of glass tapping together. Akajii continued to glare at Mira intently while she purposefully avoided eye contact with the trio and Athena watched the snow that had gently started falling outside the window. After a while, Akajii looked away towards the window as well.

"We should probably leave" She stated. "Before the snow starts to getting-" Akajii stopped short. Looking over at Meshiro she asked slightly concerned, "Are you OK?"

*cough* "Yeah, I'm fine." she lied through a wheeze. "I'm...*cough*...just a little tired."

Athena got up and padded over to the ailing girl sniffing her down then pushing her nose against her cheek. "You're obviously not fine." She growled after she pulled away from Meshiro's hot cheek. "I told you to stay at the hotel this morning, but no, you had to come, so now you're running a fever, probably from overexertion. Why do you never listen to reason?" Mira had stopped putting away the glasses now and stared at the ongoing scene, concern flashing in her eyes.

"Hey, I get that you're worried," Akajii protested. "Believe me, I am too. But I don't think your getting angry is going to help the situation." She looked at Meshiro. She was holding her chest, wheezing in each breath. "Do you think you will be OK to make it back to the hotel?"

"I don't think she can travel right now," Athena stated firmly. "We should have left sooner. Meshiro, why didn't you tell us you were feeling like this. You know what holding off does to you."

"I think we should have kept a closer eye on her."

*cough* "Guys...*wheeze*...please..." Meshiro pleaded to deaf ears.

"I was watching her. I just think that, by now, she should know better than to-" She broke off abruptly. Meshiro had started coughing harder. Her face was even paler and she had beads of sweat dripping down her entire body. The girl slid heavily off her chair to the floor. She covered her mouth with one hand and held herself up with the other, trying desperately to get a breath in between coughs. To the bickering girls horror, they saw her hand was covered in blood.

"Athena, where is her medicine? It is in your pack?" Akajii asked now overtaken by concern.

"Yes, in the farthest pocket on my left side" She replied quickly

Mirajane, seeing the danger in the situation, had run over to help. "What can I do?' She asked.

"Get a cold rag and some ice. She's running a fever and we'll need to bring it down if we can stop the coughing." Athena said, now standing so close to Meshiro that her tail was touching her back. Mirajane ran to the back, grabbed a bucket and filled it with ice. Then she whipped a rag out of a drawer and sprinted back to the girls. Meshiro was lying on her back now, barely conscious, her breath coming in short ragged gasps. Akajii had grabbed a vial and syringe. Carefully filling the syringe with the amber liquid contained within, she stuck it in Meshiro's arm and plunged it. Meshiro laid motionless on the ground for a few agonizing moments, the seconds ticking at the rate of an eternity. Her breathing changed ever so slightly, and the watching group breathed a small sigh of relief. Mira put the rag on her forehead and some of the ice around her, trying to cool her off.

"Is she going to be OK?" Mira asked nervously.

Akajii stared at her for a long moment then replied, "I hope so, but it's a little too soon to tell." Too concerned for her sister to allow her anger to continue.

"Should we get her to a hospital?"

"No," Athena said in a low voice. "She can't handle the journey, and right now, it is probably too cold for her outside. The air would only aggravate her lungs more and her condition could worsen."

"What should we do now?" Mira asked.

"We'll stay in the guild for the night. There are beds upstairs right?" Athena asked. Mirajane nodded silently. "Good. We'll bring her up there. We'll need to set a watch for the night though to make sure her condition doesn't worsen. I'll take the first watch. Akajii you take the second. Mira, You can go home." She added, giving the girl a hard stare.

"No." She said firmly. "I'm going to stay here tonight as well."

Athena stared at her for a few moments then lowered her head. "Very well." She said simply reaching down to sniff at Meshiro again. "Come on, let's get her into a bed."


	4. Forgiviness

Meshiro quietly stepped through the peaceful forest. The birds were chirping high in the trees and the bugs were singing unseen in the soft grass underfoot. Sunlight dappled the forest floor, filtered by the leaves that whispered softly in the wind. The air was warm and moist, and the ground felt supple and springy under her bare feet. The smells of the forest called her onward, leaf mold and warm wet tree bark. This place seemed so familiar and comforting to the wandering girl, yet she knew she had never seen this forest before, at least, not in the waking world. Then the wind began to blow harder, rustling through the forest making the leaves shudder in the trees. The whispering had grown louder with the changing wind. The birds and bugs began to quiet their songs, then they stopped altogether. Meshiro listened closely, there was something odd about the noise the blowing leaves were making. It seemed oddly familiar. It continued to grow until it wasn't just the leaves whispering, there were voices too. They were talking to her, calling her name, pleading for help. The wind blew stronger still, ripping all the leaves from the trees, till there was none left, yet the voices continued. The warm sunlight vanished, to be replaced by cold red storm clouds. The forest had taken an eerie glow, like the color of freshly spilled blood. The voices were no longer whispering, now they were wailing, screaming in agony, as if some monster were killing them. Meshiro spun around, crouching low to the ground, ready to pounce at whatever was causing so much anguish. She glared at the clouds and saw something that made her veins run cold. In the blood-red sky, was a face, laughing maniacally. Taunting her because she couldn't help. Its eyes were glowing a red far deeper than any blood. Its face was twisted in an evil smile, and pleasure at seeing the suffering caused it to laugh harder. Its fangs were enormous and covered in the blood of those it tormented. The wailing grew louder still, so loud that Meshiro had to cover her ears, but it did little to block out the noise. She dropped to her knees on the cold hard ground, screaming for the noises to stop. Then the voices grew familiar. These were now the voices of her family, her guild, friends she had made and long forgotten, strangers she had passed by during her travels. All of them were crying in pain. Pleading for the only relief; death.

Meshiro sat bolt upright. She looked around wildly, listening for the screaming, but there was none. She was in a bed, and sunlight filtered through the windows. Sweat was dripping down her whole body, and she was shaking uncontrollably. Something stirred at the end of her bed. It was Mira. She had been on watch sitting in a chair, but she had fallen asleep, placing her head on the sheets. Now she was moving slowly, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. She looked across the room at the pale face of Meshiro and jumped.

"Are you OK?" she asked fearfully. "Should I get Athena?" She started to stand so she could run out the door if need be.

"No, I'm fine," Meshiro replied soothingly. "Honestly." She said after the look of fear on Mira's face didn't diminish.

Meshiro looked out the window next to her bed. The sun was bright and the sky was a deep shade of blue. Birds were singing outside, and the ice had started to clear from the streets, leaving puddles strewn about the city.

"How long have I been out?" She inquired.

"Six days..." Mira whispered. "We were really worried about you." She had tears in her eyes now.

"Mira. It's alright. I'm fine now, see?" She held up her arm and flexed. It didn't help. Mira had started crying.

"I'm so sorry." She sobbed. "I really, really am."

"Hey, what are you sorry about? Huh? You haven't done anything wrong." Meshiro said softly.

"Yes, I have. When you guys came back, I was so happy to see you but then I let my own selfishness get in the way. I was angry and bitter with you, Shiro. I was so very mad. And I wanted you to know just how mad I was, so I kept my distance. But it ate me up inside. You were my best friend." She sobbed into the bedsheets. "Then you got sick, and you were coughing blood and barely breathing. I thought you were going to die, and I was never going to see, or speak to you again...and..." She sniffed looking up. The words had started tumbling out in the end, and now she couldn't get any out at all. Mira laid her head down on the bed sheets again.

"Oh, my." She sighed "It's alright my dear friend, I'm not mad," Meshiro said soothingly. She reached across her bed and started stroking the sobbing girl's wavy white hair. "In fact, I would be mad as well, if I had been in your shoes. Your sister died and the very next week my family just leaves. I never once tried to contact you, or tell you how I was. I didn't even leave you a letter explaining my departure. I just left." She sighed understandingly. "If anyone should be apologizing, it's me." Looking down at her friend she said quietly, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright Shiro," Mira sniffed. "I don't think I could've stayed mad at you anyways. Are you back for good though?" She asked suddenly.

"...I don't know." She replied, looking at her friend, who looked crestfallen. "I just don't know what the future will bring. But hey, cheer up. I'm back right now. And Lisanna! She's back! I don't know how, but your sister has come back!"

"You're right. I have so much to be grateful for!" She smiled widely.

"Oh hey, on the matter of your family, how is Elfman?" Meshiro inquired carefully "I know the news of my brother Michi's death must have come as a real shock to him."

"He took it pretty hard the first couple of days, but he keeps a strong face on and pretends it doesn't bother him. He is getting over it quickly though. Everyone believed that you guys must be dead since you never returned and left so suddenly, so I think just the initial shock of it is what hit him the hardest." She replied.

Meshiro looked down at her hands. "Yeah, I'm sorry," Meshiro said ashamed.

"It's OK," Mira replied. "I'm sorry as well. We both have something to apologize for here, so how about we call a truce!" She happily reached out her arm for a handshake. Meshiro didn't return the gesture, however, instead, she studied the bedspread, as if something of great interest had just appeared. They both sat for a second in silence.

"Well," Mira exclaimed suddenly. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving! How about we go get some breakfast, and break the good news to the guild about your recovery?"

"OK" Meshiro agreed glad to have something else to think about. "But, we will have to move slowly, I'm pretty weak from lying bed for so long and being ill. By the way, Mira, would you tell me why it seems as if so many of you haven't aged normally?" Meshiro questioned. And with that, the two girls got up and carefully made their way down to the guild hall.


	5. The Wait

Akaji sat at a table in a quiet corner and silently watched the guild go about its business. They were sitting about and talking with each other, having a drink or eating some breakfast. Every now and then, someone would stop what they were doing, to sneak a peek over at her sympathetically, trying to be quick and unnoticed about their worry, but she saw every glance or turn of a head in her direction. She would just ignored these looks though. It had been six days since Meshiro had her attack, but she still had not awakened. She knew everyone else was just worried, but she couldn't help getting irritated when people would come up to her to find out the status of her sister. _It's not like we're keeping her condition a secret_. She thought angrily to herself. _Everyone knows just as much as I do._ _If they really want to know how she is doing_ , _they can go up to the infirmary and see her for themselves_. She knew she was probably being a little too harsh about it, but concern had made her short-tempered.

On the night of the attack, once they had finally gotten her safely tucked into a bed, her condition became worse. They had to give her another shot, which is something they hadn't had to do in quite some time. Athena, being fairly proficient at healing magic, was able to set a healing spell on her, but she had to keep it up all night, to make sure she survived. Thankfully she had pulled through and was now recovering in the guild infirmary. This feat, of course, wore Athena down though, so she had to spend the entire next day resting up herself, back at the hotel. They decided that they should keep a constant watch on the ailing girl, in case her condition were to worsen. Athena was the one who decided that Meshiro would continue to stay in the guild, after obtaining permission from the Master. There were more people around during the daytime, so she and Akajii could take a rest. She couldn't convince herself to sleep or eat though, so instead, she sat in the corner, thinking.

Her mind turned to Mirajane, who was currently sitting upstairs with Shiro, keeping watch for any changes. Just thinking of her made the redhead mad. The first few days they were here, she completely ignored them, and she never once tried to explain why. She wouldn't be so mad at Mira if she had at least tried to talk to them about what was eating her up. But no, she had decided the best way to show her irritation was to simply ignore them. When Meshiro got sick she came over to help, and now she wouldn't even leave her side. It annoyed her so much. She was acting like nothing had happened. Did she know how excited Meshiro was to be going back to the guild? Or how thrilled she was at the idea of seeing her old friend? Does she know how much it tore Shiro apart when she wasn't greeted, let alone even looked at or talked to by her? Meshiro had spent almost all of the nights since there return crying herself to sleep. It might even have been what put the extra stress on her that caused her to get so sick.

"How can you expect me to forgive this woman when she has caused my sister so much grief? I know you could hear her sobbing at night." Akajii had exclaimed angrily the night before, right after Athena had confronted her for constantly glowering at Mira.

Athena sighed. "I know JiJi, but did you see how much it was eating up Mirajane too? It obviously wasn't an easy thing for her to do, ignoring her friend after she had been gone for so long. You have to remember that we left right after that poor child's death. That must have torn Mira apart, to lose her sister, then her best friend so shortly apart. She has proven to us though that she still cares for her friend."

"Why did it take Shiro getting sick for her to decide to drop that childish stance then?" Akajii challenged, the diplomatic nature of the large hound making her angrier, probably because she knew she was right.

"I don't know," Athena said, flicking an ear. "but you're not acting much differently. I swear you humans will find any reason you can to start a war." Athena shook her head in frustration. "There is no point in continuing this fight, however, seeing as you refuse to listen to reason. One day you will see the error in your thinking, and you won't like it. I just hope for your sake that it's sooner, rather than later."

"You don't have to join me in this if you don't want to, but you never were good at picking sides when the need would arise. I'm still not certain we can trust that two-faced _child_ ," She said spat, pointing angrily in the direction of the guild. She knew she was close to losing her control so she had stormed out of the room instead of continuing.

Now, Akajii sat by herself in the guild hall the morning after the fight, thinking about all of it. Athena was right in saying how obvious it was that Mira still cared about her friend, but just couldn't bring herself to forgive the girl. _Ugh_... She thought to herself. _I hate being idle_. _I should probably go do some training_. _Maybe that will help clear my mind a bit._ Having made up her mind, she got up and threw on her coat then started to head for the door swiftly. Just as she was about to reach for the handle, however, she heard someone calling out to her. Sighing in frustration she turned around.

"Hey, JiJi! Where ya goin'?" Natsu asked while walking up to her.

"I was going out to train, but-"

"I knew it!" he interrupted happily. "I'll join you!"

"Actually, I was thinking of training by myself." She responded quickly, hoping he would catch the hint.

"Why would you want to do that?' He asked confused. "There are plenty of people here who would love a good spar!" He walked over to the door and went outside. "Come on!" He called over his shoulder when she didn't immediately follow. Begrudgingly, Akajii stepped outside as well.

Outside, the air was still icy, but there was a fresh breeze blowing, promising a bit of warmer weather. The sun was shining bright and the sky was a clear blue. It was a rather beautiful day, considering the weather they had come in with nearly two weeks ago. She took a deep breath of the chilly air and blew it out in a quick puff of steam.

"So," Natsu said grinning. "What kind of training are we doing today?" He fired up his hands in anticipation.

"I was actually going to work on my close combat." She said, carefully picking her way around the many icy patches that were slowly turning into puddles laying across the streets. "How about we go to the beach though. I think somewhere less slick would be better suited for this kind of training. There also won't be as many people. It's a little too crowded here, and we don't want to send any pedestrians to the hospital." She said jokingly. Just being outside with something to do had put her in a better mood already.

The beach wasn't too far from the guild, and they could still easily see the building from where they stood. Along the way, they had decided to race each other to the beach, to get there blood pumping, which certainly did its job, and it took some of the chills from their bones. At the beach, there were definitely fewer people, and the sandy terrain had no ice on it, except for farther out into the water. They could just barely see that six children had decided to venture far out on the ice and were playing around with it, taking turns seeing who could slide the farthest. She took a sniff of air, but the fresh breeze still remained. It looked as though the ice was holding up well for now, but she hoped they would be smart about their play and not stay on it if it started to get too warm. Turning to face Natsu, she thought of how to begin.

"I'll let you have first shot!" She decided

Natsu shot forward immediately, his right fist set low for a punch. She blocked it easily and countered with a kick from her left leg, which he stopped with a cross-block. They jumped apart. Circling each other, both planning their next move. Akajii struck first this time. She ran at him and feigned to the left when she was close enough to touch him, coming up with an uppercut. Natsu simply moved his head to avoid this, then he swung his leg out and knocked her legs out from under her. She landed on her back with a heavy thud. She lay winded for a moment, breathing deeply, trying to recover from the sudden loss of breath. _I'm really out of shape from all this sitting around_ , She thought to herself surprised. Natsu held out his hand to help her up, but she didn't take it. Instead, she swung her legs up and, pushing with her abdomen, flung herself up back into a standing position.

Natsu took this as a go and came at her again. He held his right arm low for another punch, but at the last second, he swung his left hand at her side. Akajii managed to jump out of the way, twisting her body in mid-air to throw a kick, which caught him off guard and slammed into his shoulders. She landed on her hands and somersaulted back to ready position. Natsu just laughed after he stood up. This time he prepared a kick but tried to punch her instead. She dodged this attack then raised her left leg high above her head at the last second and came down hard on his shoulder. There was something fishy about his last punch.

"Oyi!" She exclaimed with realization. "I said close combat, that means no magic!"

Natsu gave a mischievous grin and swung again with his right leg, aiming for her stomach, she blocked it with her left arm and jumped back. Again, something was off about his last attack. She looked at him square in the face, readying a retort for his actions, only to be caught off guard by him staring right back with barely contained laughter.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" He shouted. Holding his hands up and spitting out a huge wall of fire.

"Wood Make Shield!" Akajii said slamming her palms against the cold beach. A large wooden shield rushed up out of the sand in front of her. She quickly sprang to the left, tucked her body in and rolled once she hit the ground. The shield had exploded in a shower of wooden splinters and fire. Then springing out of the roll, she slid across the ground with one knee and one hand down. "Wood Make Fist!'' She called punching the ground with her other hand. A large wooden fist shot out of the ground right underneath Natsu. He managed to jump out of the way just in time. Natsu landed and immediately shot out with a Fire Dragon's Fist. Akajii countered with another fist made out of wood, but this one was a few centimeters from her skin and she controlled it directly as if it were her own hand. Just as they were about to connect, they both froze in surprise. Looking up, they scanned the area for the sound that had cause their distraction.

"Help!" The voice came again. Looking out over the frozen water, the two found out who had been calling. It was the children!


	6. Icy Waters

"Somebody! Please help!" The panicked voice of a child yelled. Akajii looked closely and saw only five of the six children that she'd seen playing on the ice earlier, and one of them was leaning precariously over a hole in the ice. Then suddenly there was a loud splash followed by more screaming from the other kids. That child had fallen in as well, trying to rescue his friend. These were all young children, the oldest one being about seven years old, and the one who had most recently fallen in. There was no way such young children could handle this much cold for very long. Without checking to see if Natsu was following, she sprinted across the frozen water towards them. Then she heard a deep rumble that sent shivers up her spine, the ice was cracking under her weight. She slid to a stop, too far away to help. Natsu careened into her.

"What the heck?" He asked in surprise. He got up and started moving only to be held back by her hand around his wrist.

"Don't move." She said in a low voice, sitting on her hands and knees, as the ice groaned some more. Natsu heard it this time and crouched low as well, to spread out some the tension. "We have to find some way to help these children without moving any closer. Our body weight is too much for this thin ice to handle and if we try to get any closer, we could risk sending another child into the water." Akajii said, thinking hard.

"Why don't you just use your Wood Maker Magic to build us a bridge out there?"

"The ice wouldn't be able to handle that kind of pressure. It would break before I finished making it." She said in frustration. Then thinking of something, she put her hand on the ice and sent a thin bit of wood about the size of a sturdy rope out across the ice. It went all the way down to the hole and stuck a bit into the water. "Grab on!" she hollered at the children in the water, so one of them grabbed it. "Try to pull yourself out! Everyone else, get away from the edge." Akajii called when she felt a slight tug on the other end. She saw a head pop up out of the hole, it was the first child to fall in, she began weakly climbing out, but when she finally got one knee up on the ice, it quickly shattered beneath her soaked weight, sending her back into the water.

"No!" Natsu yelled in frustration. Carefully he stood up. The ice around the two groaned noisily.

"Get down you idiot!" She ordered, "How are we supposed to save the children when we need saving ourselves?" Natsu carefully lowered himself back onto the ice. It was too late though, the ice was still creaking and Akajii could feel it shifting underneath them. They were going to fall in too!

"Ice Make Floor!" Someone behind them hollered. The ice stopped creaking to be replaced by a stronger ice. Natsu looked back joyfully to see Gray.

"Natsu you idiot! Don't just sit there gawking, get back here. I can't stretch my ice out far enough to help the children when I'm trying to save you! Come on Akajii! I need you to move also!" Gray yelled at them. Natsu sat for a second, then started crawling towards the children. "What are you doing!" Gray cried. "Get back here! Stop trying to be a hero! I can't support your weight that far out!" But the words came too late. The ice beneath Natsu cracked and he fell into the frigid waters below.

"Ice Make Scoop!" Someone else yelled. Natsu was lifted into the air by a large icy scoop, Akajii grabbing on as it carried him off the ice, and onto the safer grounds of the beach were Natsu was dropped carelessly. Everyone looked around to see Meshiro running up to the water's edge. Akajii's mouth fell open in shock.

"Ice Make Floor!" Gray yelled, without hesitating to slam his palms onto the sandy beach. A strong icy path shot out from under Gray's hands and straight to the children.

"Transform - Teeth!" Meshiro yelled. There was a bright flash. Everyone looked in the direction of her and saw that she had now transformed into a white wolf and was already sprinting across the path Gray was holding up. She ran straight to the hole sliding to a stop and started to haul the first child out with her mouth. This was the girl that had fallen in, she was no more than five years old, and she was barely moving. The other child was the boy, who was about seven years old and he was rather large for his age. She struggled to pull the soaking wet child out of the water. She dug her claws into the ice and heaved with all of her might, finally managing to pull him on top of the ice as well. The ground beneath them gave a mighty groan under the weight of all the bodies on top of it, shifting precariously.

"Help your friend!" Meshiro instructed the children pointing with her tail to the boy, who was trying to shakily get to his feet. The kids gathered around him and hauled him up then turned to grab the unmoving girl. The ice shuttered again, sending the young children into a panic. Meshiro had to push the kids away from the unconscious girl to get them moving "Go!" She said forcefully. "I'll get your friend. Now, hurry!" The ice underneath them was shaking terribly. Gray was having a hard time supporting the weight of all of these children, especially from such a distance. The children moved as quickly as their feet could carry them across the icy terrain. Meshiro grabbed the little girl by the collar of her shirt with her teeth and started trying to drag her to safety, her claws slipping and sliding on the slick surface of the wet ice.

"Hurry!" Gray yelled with a strained voice, his magic fading fast.

"Transform -Wings!" She yelled letting go of the girl's collar and jumping high into the air. There was another flash, and instead of a wolf, there was a large white eagle. She swooped down and grabbed the shoulders of the girl and started pumping her wings hard against gravity. The child was too heavy, soaked to the bone in icy water, and Meshiro was still too weak from her last bought. She couldn't get enough air under wings to push off the ground with her heavy burden.

"Sky Dragon's Wave Wind!" Wendy yelled from the beach, running to a stop near the others. Members of the Fairy Tail guild started rushing over, the commotion had caught their attention. Wendy's spell created a tornado that caught under Meshiro's wings and helped to lift her into the sky. She began gliding towards the beach, gripping harder onto the young girl's shoulders as she began to slip from her grasp. Happy and Carla flew up to her side and took the small bundle from the struggling girl. When they finally reached safe grounds, she was carefully set down. Meshiro swung around in the air making sure she could account for all the children, then she flew behind the crowd and landed heavily on her feet after transforming back. Once her feet hit the ground she slumped to her knees laying her palms flat on the ground steadying her as she gulped in the frigid air.

Athena ran to the little girl, and examined her carefully, sniffing at her entire body looking for the worst damage. Wendy rushed over to her side and together, the girls started using their healing magic to save her. When the child finally coughed, everyone around exhaled the breath they had been holding in.

"Can you manage from here?" Athena asked Wendy. "I need to check the other kids for injuries." When Wendy nodded and continued her spell, the wolfhound padded away to the other children.

Akajii carefully picked her way through the now crowded beach to her sister, who sat on the ground catching her breath.

"Are you OK?" She asked concerned sitting down next to her and placing a hand on her back.

"I'm fine." She answered, her voice strong. "I did just sprint across all that ice and fly back with a child that weighs almost as much as me!" She replied, her blue eyes gleaming with laughter.

"Well, I always told you that you're too skinny and need to get some more meat on your bones! You're practically a bag of skin!" Akajii joked, giving her sister a gentle punch on the shoulder. The two girls laughed at this. "I'm glad to see you up and moving around though Shiro. You had everyone worried. Please try to be more careful next time."

"I'll try, but I won't make any promises I can't keep." The white-haired girl replied, looking into her sister's eyes. "That last attack came on pretty suddenly. Usually, I can hold strength once the coughing starts, but this time it just hit me. The attacks seem to be getting worse and less far between too"

"Yeah, I noticed. Also, I'm not happy that you used your Ice-" She broke off her conversation when she saw Mirajane approaching. "What do you want?" She said darkly.

"Hey!" Meshiro exclaimed in surprise. "What's eating you?"

Glancing at her sister, she saw the hurt in her eyes. "Nothing." She replied. Getting up she said, "I'm going to check on the kids." Then walked away without saying another word.

"What's happened?" Mira asked confused. "Is she mad at me for-"

"Don't worry about it," Meshiro said, cutting her friend off. "She's a sour old toad. She'll get over it though, eventually. She just likes to be bitter whenever she can. It'll take her a little bit to come around but she will, you'll see." Meshiro said getting to her feet. Natsu walked over to the girls.

"Shiro! When did you learn to use Ice magic? I thought you could only use transformation magic?" He asked.

"Uh...well it's a very long story." She replied, then noticing the curious look on both Natsu and Mira's face she added quickly. "Maybe I'll tell you guys later, but we should probably see if we can help out too." She turned on her heels and started moving towards the crowd, leaving Natsu and Mirajane to stare after her.


	7. The Encompass Mage

A few weeks passed since the incident on the beach. All the children had been able to go home that day, even the girl who fell in first, recovered quickly thanks to the skilled healing magic of Athena and Wendy. The guild celebrated (like they always do) by drinking and fighting. Akajii joined in on the fighting while Athena watched from a corner shaking her head at the shenanigans, but laughing all the same, there was no stopping them. Meshiro had gone back up to the infirmary to rest for a bit, the sudden use of her magical powers after having just gotten over being ill, caused her to become exhausted. To her great surprise, neither Natsu nor Mirajane had brought up the conversation about her magic. That is, until today.

Meshiro sat at a table by herself halfheartedly picking at the lunch set out in front of her. She would have joined another table on any other day, but today was different. Today she forced herself to smile when her guildmates walked by, or to laugh when someone told a joke. Akajii had decided to stay home. Athena had left the day before and wasn't expected back until the day after tomorrow. She had been talking for a few days now about an errand she had to run. Today was a bad day for the trio. Eleven years ago on this very day, when the girls were only fifteen, their family home was attacked. Their entire family died, except for the girl's eldest brother Michi, their triplet sister, Kudotsu, and them, It was a day that haunted them in their sleep and waking world.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Mirajane asked, coming near to see the plate of food in front of Meshiro cold and uneaten. "I know what day it is. Everyone does, and we're all here for you girls if you need anything, even just to talk." Her friend said consolingly

"Thank you." She replied simply, then looking up she asked: "Do you guys need any help? I could use a good distraction."

"No, the lunch rush is over actually."

"Do you need something to do?" Gray asked, walking up. "How about a match. I saw the awesome Ice Magic you used a while back. I had no idea you were an Ice Mage."

"She's not!" Natsu said, on Gray's heels. "She does Transformation, like Mira. You still have to tell us how you were able to create an ice spell!"

"Yeah! I'm quite intrigued to learn about this too!" Levy said, catching in on the conversation. Quite a few others walked over as well, Elfman, Wakaba, Lisanna, Macao, Cana, Erza, Lucy, and Wendy all came over to hear.

"I...um...I don't know..."

"Oh come on! Be a man! Share your secret !" Elfman said loudly.

Meshiro sighed. "I guess you guys would have found out eventually." She took a second to gather herself, then said clearly, " I'm what's known as an Encompass Mage." A few of the members gasped in shock.

"I thought those mages had all died out!" Wakaba exclaimed.

"Almost, I'm the last one...at least to my knowledge."

"How did you get this ability?" He inquired.

"I was born with it."

"Is someone going to explain what that means?" Natsu asked getting irritated.

"An Encompass Mage is a wizard who is able to perform all forms of magic, fire, ice, lightning, and transformation, to name of few, with as much skill as any single magic mage," Macao explained turning to face him.

"Wait, what? How do I learn all the magics!" Natsu asked getting excited.

"You don't," Meshiro replied sternly. "And trust me when I say, the risks far outweigh the benefits."

"Why not?" He complained. "What do you mean?"

"When you learn a magic, your body adapts and allows that one kind of magic to overtake your body. Yes, you can learn other types, in a small sense, but you can't use as powerful of spells as say an Ice Wizard if you're a Fire Wizard. Multiple magics being within one body can cause a real strain on ones' physical self. The different magics fight within the owner for power and break down the bodies defenses. This is why I struggle with my illness. Though my body is stronger than most in sustaining all these magics, its weakened by the use of so many types of magic raging within me for power. More often than I care to think about, mages with this ability die at very young ages. My family, when I was younger and had just learned of this ability, produced a serum, with the help of Porlyusica, that can put the magic within a body to rest, which is the injection I use when I fall ill. This is only temporary, however, and then the magic within me will eventually begin to fight for dominance again." Meshiro finished and looked down awkwardly at her gloved hands resting on the table.

"Why have you never told us this before?" Mirajane asked softly.

"If this information gets out, and into the wrong hands, people with bad intentions will hunt me down and try to learn the secrets of this power."

"Does the Master know?"

"He is the one who suggested we get Porlyusica to help us create a serum."

"If it's so dangerous for people to know about, why have you told us this now. Who's to say one of us might not accidentally let this information slip?" Cana asked, giving Natsu a meaningful glance.

"Hey! I can keep a secret!" Natsu shot back.

"Oh yeah?" Cana retorted. "Prove it. Give me an instance when you didn't go blabbing off about a secret."

"Guys now is not the time," Erza interjected firmly before Natsu could reply. "Why have you so willingly told us today?"

"Because the information has already been leaked. I don't know how, but someone found out, and the news got around to the wrong person. The reason we came back to the guild in the first place was to ask the Master for help. Whether or not that was a wise decision, has yet to be seen. I did not want to involve any of you at first, however, it seems my body has been getting weaker. We don't know if this is only temporary, or whether my body will be able to get over this bump, but Athena decided it was a good idea to get his help." She looked around, waiting to hear the verdict. Expecting them to tell her to leave, before any real damage is done to the guild.

Mira spoke up first. "Well, I for one, intend to stand by you."

"Yeah! There's no way we could leave you hanging!" Natsu said smiling.

"Not a chance. You are one of us after all." Came Gray's voice.

"We'll be here for you and your family if you ever need us," Cana said.

"If that creep decides to come here, he'll have to deal with all of us" Lucy added.

"I'll try to help you in whatever way I can," Wendy added quietly.

"I think you get the picture, right Shiro? We will help you out no matter what!" Erza said. "You can rest assured that the guild has your back!"


	8. Memories

A few days ago, Meshiro came to Athena and told her about a dream she had when she awoke after her attack, but the only reason she told her, was because she had that same dream the other night. Athena had felt the alarm rising in her stomach like a bad meal. Trying to hide her shock, she had comforted the girl the best she could, then announced later that day of an "errand" she had to run. The girls wanted to come with, but she refused, saying that they needed to stay in the guild, in case they were needed there. This had done little to convince them, but they stayed, much to her surprise.

Now she ran swiftly through an open field, frozen grass crackling beneath her aching paws. Her strength was fading faster than a flower in the winter. Slowing to a trot, she panted hard, trying to catch her breath, great wafts of steam rising around her muzzle. She had already been running for eight hours, but she couldn't keep the pace she had set. She knew she shouldn't be slowing down, and there was a time when she could have sprinted the whole way without stopping, but she wasn't that young anymore. She had a birthday coming up, but she barely remembered them now, and they just came and went like any other day. She had been through more birthdays than anyone should care about. The girls cared, however, and would celebrate it with joy, even though Athena found it hard to feel as excited about being another year older This year she would be turning eight hundred and sixty-nine. She was older than most of her kind had been before their passing, yet somehow she survived. She could feel her age in the creaking of her bones when she stood up after being inactive for too long, or the way she lost her breath more swiftly when performing physical tasks. Even her magic had taken a toll over the many years. Maybe she lived on because she knew she still had a mission to perform. Redoubling her efforts, she quickened her pace again, everything from the tips of her claws to the end of her tail screaming for her to rest.

Her destination was a place that the trio had been avoiding for the last five years. The Kyuu family home, or at least, what was left of it. The girl's father Satoshi and their mother Diantha had all died in an attack that left the place burning, along with the two youngest children, Ami, a then ten-year-old girl, and Mikel, a seven-year-old boy. Athena thought back to that night and shivered:

It had been a long day of training, Satoshi, and Michi keeping the triplets (then fifteen years of age) on their feet. Michi was a seventeen-year-old boy, well muscled and tall, like his father, his black hair sticking up in all directions like his dad's. Athena watched from the garden while Mikel climbed around on her back and Diantha talked softly to one of the gardeners about the newest crop of plants to start sprouting after the winter. Even though it was mid-March, the weather was surprisingly warm and some plants were already beginning to grow. Ami sat next to the large wolfhound and was gently brushing out her fur, scolding her brother whenever he got too close to her work. It was a peaceful day, and Athena found herself enjoying the attention the two youngest children were giving her. In the air, smoked pork with fresh herbs could be smelled coming from the open kitchen windows, wafting across the garden and tickling everyone's noses. The sun was slowly beginning to fall behind the nearby trees, casting long golden rays out on the unfolding scene ahead.

The triplets talked to each other, trying to come up with a plan on how to best attack. Michi yelled jokingly at the girls to hurry, who responded by rolling their eyes playfully at him and giggling. He retaliated by blowing a soft breeze at them that blew through their hair and forced them to break concentration again. They gave up planning after this last distraction.

The girls broke apart and circled around the boys. Kudotsu was the first to attack. She was small like her sisters and had pale brown eyes and pitch black hair, straight and long like Meshiro's. Running towards the two boys, she jumped high up in the air and called forth a sword, which she held firmly with both hands, ready to come down with a strike on them. Satoshi simply stood his ground, barely seeming to notice the oncoming attack and instead studied his fingers while Michi deflected it easily with a gust of wind, by casually flicking his wrist. Meshiro came up from behind the two boys and shot a fireball at them then jumped to the side to avoid a retaliating gust of wind and shot back with a stream of water. Michi's wind rose up around them and whisked the attacks away harmlessly. While Meshiro had been running up, Kudotsu had rolled to the side, the shock from the wind had blown her away. She then requipped to having a bow and arrows and was shooting at them while Meshiro attacked as her Claws Transformation, a white panther, from the other side claws extended. The wind continued to whip around them, causing every arrow to be swept away without a single one getting close. Satoshi, who had yet to raise a hand, stood and watched, confident in his son's windy defense. Then out of nowhere, Akajii jumped at the boys with both her arms covered with a layer of wood, ready to come crashing down on them. Satoshi went to dodge the surprise attack but realized too late that his feet and Michi's were held firmly down by thin tendrils of wood. He braced for impact, but as if on command the girls all stopped in their attacks at once and stood back.

"Very good girls. You all did splendidly!" He said impressed at their coordination. "Meshiro, your attacks are getting much more powerful. Kudotsu, you're becoming very good at requipping quickly. Akajii, I never noticed the wood around my feet until it was too late. And Michi, your wind defense is one of the best I've seen! You all have done very well and I'm proud of all of you, my children. I hope there is never a day when we have to cross paths in combat." He said jokingly. His children looked at him with sheer joy. "Now, how about we go get something to eat! It smells like Chef Romo and his staff has finished cooking our meal!"

The group headed out of the training grounds, through the garden where they collected the rest of the family, and up the path to the Kyuu families' huge mansion. In the dining room, the staff had set the table beautifully. There were far more chairs than what was needed for the large family, but the Kyuu family had a tradition of letting the staff eat meals with them. It also made it much easier for the chef and his staff, who only needed to cook three large meals a day, rather than many sperate meals for everyone.

"They are as much a part of this family as you and me" Diantha had explained one day after Akajii asked why they took meals with them. She was a short, soft-spoken, and kind-hearted woman, her long blonde hair sitting gracefully on her back "That's why we have to treat them as such. They live and sleep in this house, just like you, so what difference does it make that they work here as well." The girls didn't mind at all though. They loved all the staff. They would play with them, help them learn, even care for them or soothe their hurts.

"I think Dad only hires more staff because he wants a bigger family!" Michi joked.

Blushing, Satoshi laughed. "Well, you might have a point there, but these people still need a place to work."

The meal was delicious, consisting of roasted pork smothered in butter and herbs with fresh, still steaming dinner rolls and a delicate split-pea soup. The dessert was a cinnamon apple pie topped with creamy, homemade vanilla ice cream, and then everything was washed down with a cup of warm, lightly sweetened, peppermint tea. When bedtime finally rolled around, it was easy for everyone to fall asleep with their full bellies. The youngest two slept in the rooms right next to the parents' on opposite sides of the hallway. Even though the house was huge and had many rooms, the triplets chose to sleep in a room together and Michi had the room across the hall. Their bedrooms were a floor below the parents and one floor above the main. Athena's room was down the hall from the parents, on the opposite side of the house. The top floor was the bedrooms for all the house staff. They were all well furnished and very cozy. The men's rooms were on one side and the women's rooms on the other. Everyone turned in a little late that night, the conversations had been quite entertaining with the many animated characters telling them, but now the house was silent, except for the sounds of sleeping bodies.

Athena woke with a start. She thought she had heard a noise coming from above. She knew that Anna Marie, one of the gardeners, had not been feeling well at dinner and had gone to bed early. Athena had checked on her before retiring herself, to find her fast asleep, but running a very slight fever. _I should probably check on her._ She thought. Stretching, she jumped off her bed and padded down the hallway and glance over at the closed master bedroom door. Then she quietly climbed up the main staircase, which separated the floors in half, and turned left towards the women's bedrooms. Something smelled off, but in her sleep-addled mind, she couldn't quite tell what it was. Quickening her step, she trotted to Anna Marie's bedroom and carefully pulled the handle down with a paw. Inside the room, the strange smell hit her like a freight train. _Blood!_ She ran to her bedside, any care at silence forgotten, and yanked the covers off with her teeth. There was blood everywhere. Examining her body closely in the darkened room she found the source to be her throat. A clean slash was stretched across from ear to ear. Rearing back she turned on her hind paws and ran to the next room. The smell of blood was everywhere. She smashed through the next door only to find another bloody bed. Down the hallway, she found one of the waiters, lying on the floor, with the same fatal wound, a glass of water shattered on the ground.

"Nooooo!" Came a scream from the floor below. It was Diantha! She tore down the hallway, her claws sliding on the hardwood floor as she tried to turn too quickly to get down the stairs. The door to the Master's bedroom was wide open this time. Athena galloped down the hallway to find Diantha and Satoshi staring down a large masked man wearing nothing but black. Ami lay, throat slashed, at the end of the opening to their room. Mikel stood behind his parents, covering his eyes and ears as best as he could. A growl rose deep in her throat, echoing through the hauntingly quiet house. The intruder turned around to see the newcomer.

"Get the other children out of here!" Satoshi yelled. "Hurry! Get them somewhere safe! We'll hold him off." Athena hesitated. "GO! Please!" He pleaded. She backed away, her mind swirling with images of slashed throats and pools of blood. The intruder advanced on her as she exited the room, but Satoshi had already thrown up a weak barrier that barred his way, then Diantha attacked with a jolt of lightning that slammed into the wall, easily deflected by the intruder. Outside the door, Athena looked at the still warm body of the young Ami. _This man will show no mercy if he gets to the other children,_ she thought.

She spun around and sprinted down the hallway, and to the stairs, clearing most of them in a heavy leap that left her sprawled on the ground. She quickly rose to her feet and ran to the girls' bedroom and forced them out of their beds with an unceremonious push and a few loud barks. The girls rose their feet quickly, looking around in alarm, a sound at the door alerted her to the arrival of someone else in the room. Fast as lightning, she spun around, growling threateningly, only to stop when she realized it was Michi. He looked scared to death, a look that didn't fall across the brave young man's face very often. Suddenly a new scent hit her nose, smoke. The house was on fire! She didn't waste any time telling them what was going on, just had them throw on some shoes and run out the bedroom door.

Down in the main hallway, the house was filled with signs of fire, smoke filled every room. Michi used his wind magic to create a barrier between them and the deadly fumes. Athena charged up pure magic energy in her mouth and shot it at the front doors, clearing them off their hinges and leaving a gaping hole where they should have been. The sprinted out of the house and kept running through the night. The girls, confused and scared, sobbed as they ran, unsure where the rest of their family was, but fearing the worst. Michi ran in silence, and though he had a stoic look on his face, Athena could see the tears sparkling on his cheeks. He knew without a doubt, they would never again see that house, big, strong, and beautiful. He knew they would never see the goofy waiters, green-thumbed gardeners, or doting house cleaners. Worst of all, he knew they would never again see their beloved parents or two youngest siblings.

Athena shook her head as she ran back to that very same house, eleven years later. Kudotsu had died five years after the intruder struck, and then Michi had been lost. A new resolve hit Athena as she cleared a ditch and pushed her weary body onward. She would not let any harm befall the two girls she had left in her charge. She would die a thousand deaths over if it meant she could save them.


	9. The Betrayal

"How dumb can you be Meshiro? Why would you tell them this?" Akajii exclaimed in a quiet rage. The day when Meshiro had told the guild about her magic, she also informed her sister that she had revealed the secret. They were standing in their house's living room that they had rented out a couple of weeks ago. The crackling fire in the fireplace doing nothing to warm the cold words being thrown around by Akajii.

"Well, considering why we came back, it was only a matter of time before they figured it out," Meshiro replied bleakly. "Anyways, I would much rather they hear it from me, than have some rumor started," She had never been much for fighting, especially with her sister, and was always trying to avoid conflict when possible. Akajii on the other hand, had a spirit to match her short fiery red hair. This time, the conflict was hard to avoid though, and Meshiro had been swept away trying to defend her actions to her sister.

"We've talked about this," Akajii said, trying hard to rain in her anger. She could feel the rage bubbling inside of her. "Athena doesn't want anyone knowing until absolutely necessary."

"I think it was necessary. They were already getting restless and overly curious since the incident on the ice. I don't like keeping secrets from my friends, especially when they know I'm hiding something. What was I supposed to do?" Meshiro questioned.

"For starters, you could have told them no," Akajii stated firmly. "It's none of their business. Secondly, it was your fault they found out about your magic that day. You should never have used your ice or transformation magic. You were still recovering from your last bought. What would we have done had you fallen more ill from expending magic? Or had you fallen through the ice? There were plenty of guild members that were already on the way that could have helped. You should have stood back and let us taken care of it." Worry also tended to make it more difficult for the already short-tempered girl, and the incident with her sister's attack worried her the most. She had been afraid she was going to lose her sister, and she didn't know who to handle that emotion. She had chosen to stay home today because the sadness that she felt from her families death had already made her feel too emotional, but she soon found herself regretting that decision and instead wished she could have been there to prevent this whole thing from happening.

"What, and let you or Natsu drown? There wasn't enough time to wait for the others or to think of another plan. That little girl could have died if we didn't act fast enough. It's a miracle she recovered so quickly." Meshiro defended, her patience also starting to wearing thin.

"She would have been fine. Athena and Wendy were there so if she had come out worse, they could have fixed her up anyways."

"You don't know that!" Meshiro exclaimed in shock. "You're so reckless sometimes. You're going to get someone really hurt one of these days and Athena won't be there to help." She couldn't believe what her sister was saying. She knew her sister must have been worried that day, but that was no reason to put another life in danger, especially one so young and innocent.

"Me? Reckless? Huh!" She gave a short incredulous laugh. "I'm not the one spilling our secrets left and right. We might as well tell them everything then if you're so keen on not hiding our information." Akajii yelled back. She had been raising her voice more and more as the conversation drew on. She had no patience left and she wasn't thinking about what she was saying anymore. "How can I be related to such an idiot? Your stupidity is going to get you killed! Your gonna die someday trying to act like a hero, just like Michi!" She spat with venom raising a hand above her head.

Meshiro took a step back, tears welling in her eyes. "I-I-you-" she stammered, unsure of what to say and shaken by the harsh words of her beloved sister. They had fought before, but never like this. Athena had always been around to stop them and remind them of the power words can have when thrown out in anger. Though her sister was harsh and easily angered, she always picked her words carefully. Shiro knew her sister was fully aware that she had trouble holding back her anger and she had learned at a very young age how to hold her tongue and say only things that would benefit the furthering of the conversation. This side of her sister, she had never seen. She took another few steps back. "Y—you're being unfair…" She managed through choked out breaths, her throat closing as her tears started to flow more freely.

"Only because you don't know how to keep your big mouth shut!" Akajii declared viciously, taking a sudden step closer to her with the still raised hand and slapping it hard with her knuckles across her sister's face.

Meshiro's eyes grew wide in pain and shock, She brought a hand to her face and gingerly touched the afflicted cheek. Then she turned on her heels and ran for the door, where she pushed it open and slammed it closed. Akajii froze in stunned silence. She looked at her hand, quickly growing sore from the force of the impact. If my hand is already starting to hurt, how must Shiro's cheek feel? She thought to herself as the realization of her angry outburst hit her at full force.

"What have I done?" She cried. She grabbed her coat and threw it on. Then snatching up her sister's coat as well, she ran out the door, calling her sister's name, as she quickly drew it closed. Looking out into the chilly night air, she saw a flash of her sister's bright white hair turned silver, gleaming in the half moonlight as she turned a corner and out of sight. She sprinted to the corner and called her sister's name again, dread filling her as she realized what she had been saying and what she had done. She could see the moonlit outline of her frail sister as she ran ahead, steam rising in the air in swift short bursts.

The weather had warmed up since they had first arrived all those weeks ago, but the nights were still cold enough to warrant a coat, and they had been getting ready for bed when the fight had broken out. Both she and her sister were in their pajamas which were barely thick enough to keep out a soft breeze. Their shoes, also, laid abandoned inside the house, forgotten in the rush out the door. She could already feel the cold creeping up her inadequately covered legs.

Her bare feet slapped loudly against the cold hard ground as she chased after her sister. She was beginning to catch up as Meshiro slowed to catch the breath, but when realized how close Akajii was, she leaped into the air in a bright flash of light, signifying a transformation. She had changed into a white eagle then she flew over the rooftops and out of sight. Akajii kept running, hoping she could catch a glimpse of her sister, or at least what direction she was going after she lost her trail, but she had vanished into the cold night. She slowed to a walk, then stopped. She was so ashamed of herself. She couldn't believe she had allowed herself to get so angry.

She glanced over in the direction that her sister had vanished at and sighed hanging her head in shame. There was really only one person she knew she could trust who could help in this situation, but Athena wasn't due back for another two days. She thought hard about what she was supposed to do. She knew her sister must hate her now and would most likely never want to speak to her again, but she had to make sure she was at least safe.

 _It was pretty childish of her to run off like this in the cold though._ She thought to herself. _Plus, she is an adult. She can take care of herself. Why do I need to keep watch over her when she is more than capable of caring for herself?_ She wondered growing angry. _I guess I was the one who slapped her though._ She thought again in shame. _But it was her fault for acting like a child who can't hold in a secret. She has probably run off to be with that two-faced Mirajane and her siblings anyways. I bet she's safe and warm already._ She switched again, her emotions fighting within her, trying to be heard over the others. _She's probably over there telling them more of our secrets._ She thought, her mind holding onto the darker feelings. She turned around slowly and began walking back to the house.


	10. The Smiling Moon

Meshiro beat her wings hard against the cold night air, flying fast and far, her still cold muscles screaming for her to stop. She had to get away. She had to leave that woman behind. She didn't know who she was, but be she definitely was not her loving sister. Akajii would never use such harsh words like that. Akajii would never bring her brother Michi up in such a way, she adored him. And Akajii would never, ever strike her in anger. That girl back there was a mere shell of what her sister used to be.

The cold air was beginning to sting her fragile lungs and her cheek hurt terribly where her sister's hand had met its mark. She flew over to a bare patch of land just outside of the city and changed back to human. The cold night air blew right through her thin pajamas and she scolded herself for not bringing her coat or even her shoes. The tears streaming down her face stung on her cold wet cheeks, but she no barely noticed. She looked up at the moon and sobbed, remembering what Michi had told her after their sister Kudotsu had died.

"Whenever you feel down, just look up at the moon. If you look and think really hard, you can always see it smiling." He'd said.

"That doesn't make any sense." She replied through drying tears. "How can we see a smile when the moon is full? Or when there is a new moon, or if it's covered by clouds?"

"Well, if the moon is full, it looks like someone having a jolly laugh," He replied laughing dramatically with a "ho ho" sound holding his stomach with his hands. "And when the moon isn't there, how do you know it isn't smiling?"

"I still don't think it makes any sense." She grumbled inconsolably.

"You will one day, little sis," He said soothingly, pulling her in for a hug. "But that's a lesson you will have to learn for yourself, in order to truly understand it."

She still never really knew what he meant but, she thought about his words from time to time, when she was upset. He was wise beyond his years and he always seemed to speak in riddles whenever they needed advice, telling them that many of life's mysteries can only be learned by one's own self. Now Meshiro looked up at the half moon and remembered brother's words from that night. This memory only made her pain hurt all the worse though. She missed her family terribly. She wanted to see her beautiful mother and goofy father with her sister Ami clinging closely to her mom's legs, always the shy one. She wanted to see her strong and courageous brother Michi, gently teaching Mikel about the different magics, trying to help him discover which one he would like to use. She wanted Athena to come back and remind them to forgive each other. But mostly, she wanted to go back to her sister and tell her she still loved her, but once that thought crossed her mind, a cold pit dropped into her stomach. How can I be thinking of going back to my sister when she obviously hates me? She doesn't want me around. She thought miserably. "Maybe I should just leave. Would anyone even notice I wasn't around anymore?" She questioned quietly to herself.

"I would notice."

Meshiro jumped at the sound of a deep female voice coming from behind her. She spun around and saw the redheaded form of Erza looking back at her. "I'm sorry!" Meshiro exclaimed in embarrassment. "I didn't see you were over here. I'll just…umm…leave you to your thoughts and um…" She stammered as she quickly tried to brush past her. Erza grabbed her by the arm and pulled the crying girl in front of her, now holding onto both shoulders with firm hands.

"I would notice if you left. So would the rest of the guild. We are your family and we care for and love you. You can't just leave. Not again" Erza said forcefully.

Meshiro was shocked to hear the anger in her voice. "But…" She started.

"No. No buts, ever. You and your siblings left so suddenly last time and never said a word to anyone. No explanations were given and no goodbyes were even attempted, you just vanished. You left for so long that we all believed that you guys must have died. Then you come back, out of the blue, and only half of you has returned. If you leave again, who's to say you'll ever come back?"

"I…" She attempted again.

"I don't know where you have been," She continued, ignoring the older girl's attempts to speak . "and I don't know why Kudotsu hasn't returned, but I can only assume she met a similar fate as Michi. I also don't know why you feel like you need to go it alone. What I can tell you, is that I know you are going through some very difficult times and, as your family, we will help you ladies through whatever trials you are facing. We will risk our lives to save yours' because we know you would do the same for us. Now, please tell me you intend to stay, or I will be forced to keep you here against your will, and I can assure you, the other guild members will help me." She said with force.

Meshiro stood in silence, staring at the women in front of her. She was shocked by the certainty that the redheaded spoke with when referring to those in the guild. How could she possibly know what the others were thinking when they weren't here to voice their own opinions. She nodded her head, not sure if she should try to speak again.

"Good," she said now gently, her hard stare softening in an instant. "Now let's get you back to Fairy Hills. You have a pretty bad cut on your cheek that's bleeding."

Meshiro nodded again in silence but stayed where she was while Erza started to walk away. She turned around when she realized the white-haired girl wasn't next to her and gave her a questioning stare. Meshiro looked at her for a moment then said quietly "Thank you."

"No need to thank me," She replied with a smile as she turned back around. "I'm only doing what anyone would do for family." Then she started walking towards the girls' dormitories, without looking to see if she followed this time.


	11. Of Armor and Bows

Meshiro had never been to the Fairy Hills girls' dormitories before, having stayed in a house that Michi had bought shortly after the family home was destroyed. She was surprised to see that, even at this hour, a couple lights were shining through some windows in what she assumed were the different girls' bedrooms. Erza unlocked the front door and led her through. Walking inside, she saw the dorm's lobby. The front desk was sitting on the right side with a door behind it, probably leading to the owners' quarters. On the left side was a table with a couch and chair around it and a decorated green rug underneath. Juvia and Cana were sitting on the couch talking. The girls immediately stopped their conversation when they saw Meshiro step in with tear stained cheeks and dressed inappropriately for such cold weather.

"What happened?" Juvia asked bewildered.

"Are you ok?" echoed Cana in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's been a long night is all." Meshiro responded quietly, keeping her head down and face turned so the girls couldn't see her cut cheek. The girls stared for a moment longer at her, unconvinced. Cana looked at Juvia who in turn looked to Erza as she studied the hurt girl, who then gave a small shake of her head. They then looked at each other again and tried to avoid obvious eye contact with the two girls as they walked past, attempting to start up the previous conversation.

Once inside Erza's room, Meshiro was shocked to see the size. It was, what appeared to be, a few rooms with the walls broken down between them to create a huge hallway adorned by armors and weapons lined along the wall. She'd seen the gear that her sister Kudotsu had kept since, when she was younger, she was not yet strong enough to store more than a couple tools when she traveled. She had thought her sister had quite a collection, but seeing this collection made her eyes stretch wide in amazement. She forgot momentarily about the happenings of the evening and focused on inspecting some of the pieces. She'd never seen so many in one place, even in a museum. This place was not what she would expect from the girl she remembered from all those years ago, picking fights to prove her strength and hiding tears whenever she found herself saddened. Erza must have grown very strong during those years of absence.

At the end of the long hallway was her bedroom, but right next to the doorway was a piece of armor with an adorned bow and arrows that stopped her dead in her tracks. It was much smaller than Erza would be able to fit in to. It was a simple but strong silver metaled chest plate with black arm and leg guards streaked with small golden yellow flames. The chest plate had a crest consisting of a black circle with a long-bodied similar yellow dragon spiraling itself in the middle of the circle. The emerald eyes gleamed back, seeming to follow the movements of the girl inspecting it. This wasn't just another suit of armor that Erza used and stored, this one was very well cared for and highly polished. The bow and arrows were simple at first glance, but carved carefully in the bow was the same dragon encircling its way around the tail to tip. The arrows were made of a thin gray-black wood with golden yellow tips and feathers. Meshiro stared at this piece in silence, shock gluing her mouth closed as she swept her eyes over the familiar piece.

"Recognize it?" Ezra asked, scaring Meshiro, for the second time that night, out of her thoughts.

"This gear belonged to my sister Kudotsu." She said without looking away. "It was her favorite set, and she never left the house unless she had them set for requip. When we turned six and could join the Fairy Tail Guild, my father gave us the option of gifts and this is the present that she chose. It was handcrafted for her by a hired blacksmith. She helped make it and kept working on it as she grew so the armor would still fit and the bow would never be too small. Erza," She said louder than she had spoken all night, rounding on the now surprised redhead. "how did you get this set? This was definitely hers, so how did you come by it?"

"Four years ago, I found these in a box outside of Fairy Hills addressed to me." She said carefully. "There was no note, but I knew it was Kudotsu's gear, so I thought something was wrong. I never saw her though, so there was no way for me to know why they were left."

Meshiro backed down a bit and sighed, shaking her head before she spoke. "Before my sister died, she ran away from us when we were trying to help a village that was being attacked by a dark guild, but we were having a very hard time defeating them," She said starring into the eyes of the dragon once more as she recalled the memory. "Michi was badly injured during one of the attacks and we were hiding in an old barn just outside of the village, planning our next move to help rid the village of this guild, but to no avail. They were a horrible guild, who had taken to this village and pillaged it and killed anyone who stood in there way. They would often even kill the villagers just for fun. The population was less than half its starting amount when we arrived. Kudotsu decided to go to bed early that night, claiming she wanted to catch up on sleep but snuck away while we were planning. She must have found a way to send her armor to you, because the next morning, when we looked outside to check on everyone, we noticed the village, for the first time, was silent. There was no screaming. No dark guild members romping about wreaking havoc. It was just quiet. Villagers were cautiously wandering out of their homes, just as confused by the silence as we were. That's when we noticed that Kudotsu was missing. Athena followed her scent to a nearby cliff and saw, at the bottom, all the dead bodies of those from the dark guild. Apparently, during the night, Kudotsu had somehow tricked every one of them to the cliff and took on all of them by herself. Most it seemed, died from a fall, probably off the cliff, while the others, she must have fought by hand. We found her laying against a nearby tree. She was already too far gone, from all the injuries she took, for Athena to save and she must have died just moments before we arrived."

"So your sister thought she would able to take on the entire guild by herself?" Erza asked in shock.

"Yes, and she did succeed. There were no more guild members to be seen. She either killed all of them, or the remaining ones fled. Either way, the village was now safe from them, which was our goal. One rule we have always had though is to never kill another soul, so she went off by herself. I guess she assumed that it was the only way to stop them. And she must have known just how damaging the battle would be, which is probably why she gave you her armor. She looked up to you and admired your strength so much, always wishing she could requip as quickly as you, or even store as much armor for requipping."

"I had no idea. She was always so quiet." Erza remarked. Seeing that the conversation had turned to dark memories for the girl, she tried to change the subject. "By the way, are you gonna tell me what happened to your cheek?"

"Oh, that. I…uh...must have cut it on something…" She said without making eye contact and instead picked at some fluff off her ever-present white gloves.

"Uh huh," the redhead replied unconvinced. "Well, we should get it cleaned up at least." She said, walking into her bedroom to grab the first aid kit.


	12. The Old Fools' Talk

A cold rain was falling gently on a grave yard and a stiff breeze rustled the grass. It was small for a cemetery, but too large to be for only one family. The stones were weathered looking, as if no one had been by to clean them in a few years. Long unkempt grass and weeds grew around the stones, overtaking and hiding the pathways that had once been visible. Winter dead ivies covered the words written on most of the gravestones and the tall grass hid whatever would be visible from view. The black iron gate enclosing the patch of land was rusted, and the squeaking gate doors swung back and forth noisily whenever a breeze blew through them.

A small, very old cat shambled wearily over the gravesite and sat down on a patch of grass that had been worn down. He was a grizzly site to behold. He was covered head to tail in dirt, hiding the true color of his matted long coat. Battle scars littered his body, one stretching along his rib cage that was so bad, hair refused to grow around it, exposing the spotted gray flesh underneath. His head showed the signs of many battles, both his eyes rendered useless and milky white, with identical scars slashed through them from brow to snout. His ears were nicked and furless on the backs with long tufts of fur sticking out from inside in a greasy mess. His bushy matted tail was bent and broken, dragging along the ground when he walked. With a painful grunt, he pushed his front legs under him and flopped heavily to the ground. He laid on his side for a few moments before lifting his head high and sniffing the air.

"Athena," he called out with a gravely unused voice. "What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

The wolfhound stepped out from behind the tree she had been hiding under to escape the cold rain. She dipped her head low as she approached the old feline, speaking in a strong but respectful tone. "I have come for your help, Master Daiki." She said somberly.

"Oh, have you now?" He asked in mock concern. "Tell me something I don't already know. I could smell your fear before you even came in the grave yard, and I could hear the hesitation in your step as you approached. So how about we make a deal old dog, you don't waste my time by telling me things I have already learned, and I _might_ consider helping you, alright?"

"Very well," she said simply, weathering his scathing remarks. "I have come for the Book of Chi. I have reason to believe it's whereabouts have been discovered by the wrong person, and I must relocate it for the safety of my charges."

The old cat's head shot up at the mention of the book, surprise lighting in his unseeing eyes. "And by, the wrong person I assume you mean…" He trailed off.

"Kurai Kasumi."

"Kurai?" He said scrambling unsteadily to his feet. "Now what would that young hot head want with the Book of Chi? Where is the boy's father, and why is he not watching him like I told him to?"

"I'm afraid to say, his father has died, and that has left him to live with his mother, Myou. I cannot say for sure if he has taken to his mother's teachings or not, but I do not wish to find out the hard way. I believe it would also be wise to put the boy into hiding, to prevent any future incidents from occurring."

"Now slow down you crazy old mutt," Daiki hissed in frustration. "Why are you so eager to judge the boy when he has yet to cause any harm? It's his mother we have to keep watch of, but I see no need to banish the boy as well when he has yet to prove his standings."

"That is not a risk I am so eager to take. What if he does turn to his mother's ways? He is a very powerful young wizard, and yes, he has great potential to do good, but he also has the same potential to do evil."

"Yeah and so does that Meshiro child of yours. I don't see you punishing her for crimes she has never committed. Keeping the boy hidden away is a sure-fire way to turn him to the path of evil."

"Meshiro is a completely different case," Athena said angrily.

"And why is that?" He growled, tail lashing. "Why is she so special to you? Maybe we should lock her away too? She could cause a lot of harm to a lot of good people. You know, she may even be doing it right now, behind your back. You left her at that accursed guild you love so much I assume. She could be in there now, killing everyone there, laughing as she destroys her next victim. It's a good thing that girl's time is limited, because you never know what kind of harm she could cause to the innocent." He taunted.

"Enough!" Athena barked. "I understand your point cat."

"Good," He grunted, sitting back on his haunches and shifting his unseeing eyes to the wolfhound's. "I would see wisdom in relocating the boy as well as the book." He shifted to this topic so swiftly, it was a though the last had never occurred.

"And where would you have me take Kurai then? Not back to the guild I hope."

"Oh yes!" He said with a rusty purr in his throat. "That sounds like a splendid idea. Bring the boy to your beloved Guild. Let the members there show him what it feels like to be loved." The purr dropped away suddenly, and he now spoke in a low voice, "He will need it after the way his father treated him. He felt nothing but fear towards the boy. The old man was a fool and he cared nothing for him, only that _he_ was never hurt by the child."

"I am not sure I can care for both Meshiro and Kurai."

"Don't you worry dog, I'll be joining you. I'm not so certain I can trust you with the boy, not after the way you spoke of him." He growled. "Now," He said, switching subjects yet again, "We must gather the book quickly and move it to some place safe before we find Kurai."

He lifted his crooked tail high and marched off on his tired old paws. Athena followed him out of the gates to the graveyard then stopped and turned around. Looking up at the arch way, she could just barely make out the name Kyuu written in the same rusty black iron. "Please watch over us." She pleaded quietly to the sign, dipping her head respectfully. She turned around and followed the path of the old cat, watching his tail bob up and down over the grass.


	13. Panic

Akajii woke with a start looking around her sunlit room in confusion. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, sweeping the sand out and trying to push her sleep away. She had barely slept that night, but she remembered dreaming. Thinking hard, she tried to recall the one that had awoken her, but all she could remember where a few flashes of indistinguishable blurs, which faded away as fast as she could recall them. Shaking the thoughts away, she stretched and climbed out of her bed. She walked to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face, finally releasing her from the last traces of sleep.

She took a deep breath then realized with a shock that something was missing from the morning air. Every day when she awoke, it was always to the smell of breakfast being cooked by Meshiro. Akajii was always the last to wake up in the house, with Athena being the first up at the crack of dawn, even though she was also the last to retire. Her white-haired sister would wake shortly after the large hound to enjoy a cup of tea while watching the sunrise. After the sun came up, Meshiro would head to the kitchen to make breakfast for the trio. The only times the girl didn't make breakfast where when she was very ill.

Quietly, she crept to Meshiro's room and rapped her fingers lightly on her sister's closed bedroom door. When no reply came, she carefully pushed the door open, cringing at the squeak let off by the hinges, trying hard not to wake her. Once inside, she was shocked to find the bed neatly made and no sister within. She walked in and examined the still plain room. They had yet to add personal effects, for worry that they might not be staying for very long. Most of the items in the room were bought at a store, but could easily be left behind.

She looked at the nightstand next to her sister's bed and saw the one thing that had somehow survived the fire from that horrible night all those years ago. It was a picture of the whole family, still young and happy. The edges were slightly burned and crumbling, but Meshiro had found a picture frame and had stored the picture  
inside to try and preserve it. Their mom and dad were standing in the middle of the picture holding hands. Ami, as always, was clinging closely to her mom's legs and Mikel was being held in their dad's other arm while Athena sat on the same side and stared straight ahead, somber as ever. Kudotsu and Meshiro were hugging each other and looking at the camera with goofy grins, they were the best of friends as well as sisters. Akajii was piggybacking on Michi's back, while he held her up and laughed happily. She had looked up to him the most. The redhead found herself wishing her brother was still around, giving advice and holding the broken family together. She thought back to last night and remembered why her sister wasn't at home. She recalled the fight they had.

She turned her back on the bed and sat down heavily on the soft sheets, gingerly setting the picture down and putting her head in her hands. _I thought that it was just another dream from last night_. She thought despondently. She looked at her hand and saw to her horror that her knuckles were bruised. _I should probably get to the Guild so I can apologize to her_. Standing again she headed back to her bedroom and changed clothes, then walked into the kitchen to make something to eat.

Opening the fridge, she thought about what she should eat for breakfast. _I should make something quick. Meshiro will probably be there shortly if she's staying with the Strauss'-_ , she paused as the last thought struck her. _That's right, she probably ran off to Mira's place. She has probably told her everything that happened, making me out to be the only one at fault in the situation. How can she still be friends with that girl after what she put her threw when we returned?_ She could feel her anger bubbling up inside of her once again. _No,_ she thought again, _I need to not get angry. That's why Meshiro got hurt last night. Maybe I should just stay home today, so I don't cause any more trouble for her._ She thought, trying hard to push her anger away unsuccessfully.

She forcefully turned her attention back to the still open fridge door. _So, what should I make for breakfast?_ She thought, inspecting the contents within. She carefully pulled some eggs and milk out, then grabbed a pan and put it on the stove top. She cooked her food carefully, keeping the heat on low, and making sure it was very thoroughly cooked. Then she sat down at the empty table and began to slowly eat her food, chewing each bite more than needed and staring off into space, trying hard to keep her mind clear. When she looked at the clock on the wall once her plate was clear she realized that her attempt to waste time was in vain. She had only spent thirty minutes cooking and eating breakfast. Sighing, she stood up and slowly cleaned all the dishes, sweeping the floor and washing the stove top down as well. Then she sat down with a cup of tea and tried hard to waste more time, turning her back on the loudly ticking clock. When she finished that, she swept the floor again, convincing herself that she must have spilled tea leaves all over the kitchen and gave the table a thorough cleaning. She looked at the clock again. One hour. She had only wasted one hour this time and it was only eleven. Now irritated at her failure to waste the day away, she shoved her shoes on, threw her coat over her shoulders and walked out the door slamming it closed, heading towards the Guild.

She walked briskly through the streets of Magnolia, passing the area where her sister had flown over the rooftops the night before, glancing at the patch of sky where she had disappeared and stopping to stare at it. _I should ask my sister to forgive me when I get to the Guild._ She thought to herself. Then she turned her eyes away and back to the road ahead of her. _There is no point in stopping to stare at a bare sky._ With a new resolve of what to do when she arrived there she switched her walk to a light jog reaching her destination in just a few minutes. She stood at the closed Guild doors, now afraid. _What if she hates me?_ She questioned to herself. _What if, when I open this door and I get shunned by the whole Guild for my actions last night. I know it's never right to strike your own kin. Shiro could have told Mira what happened, and then she blabbed it to the whole guild, and now they are all waiting for me to walk inside so they can teach me a lesson._ She thought getting worked up. _Stop!_ She forced her thoughts to a halt. _I'm jumping to conclusions that could never possibly happen. The entire Guild would never turn on me when this is my first offense. And besides, if anyone is to try to punish me, it would me Master Makarov, and he is a very understanding man and would hear both sides of the story before laying any judgement down._ She took a deep breath, trying to squash her feelings back down. _Ok, I'm just going to go in and tell her I'm sorry. This is Shiro after all. She's the most forgiving person I know. She's never been one to hold a grudge._ Exhaling her breathe she pushed the doors open.

Everything was normal inside. People were talking and drinking. Everyone seemed to be engaged in some manner of conversation, so no one really noticed that Akajii had walked in. She moved into the room, trying to locate her sister through the crowd. _Why does it seem like there are so many more people here than normal?_ She wondered. Then she saw a flash of a white ponytail. _There she is! And she's not even with Mira, she's sitting with Erza in the back!_ She thought, hope swelling inside of her. "Shiro!" She called out. Her sister's head popped out from behind Erza's back. Her split second of hope started to dissolve when she saw the large gauze pad taped over her cheek. The same cheek that she had struck.

 _How bad did I hurt her?_ She questioned, looking down at her bruised knuckles. _It's more than just a bruise if she had to cover it up._ She looked around to the back of the room, fearful to find any anger in her sister's kind eyes, only to find her view blocked again by Erza. This time though the redhead's back wasn't turned to her, instead she was facing her, and she was glaring at Akajii. She took a step back but bumped into someone. She spun around and saw Mirajane. The girl said something to her, but Akajii couldn't hear it and was starting to think they had planned some kind of trap for her. It seemed to well thought out for it to be a coincidence for Erza and Mirajane to be standing where they were

Akajii stepped away from the white-haired girl. She looked behind her again and saw that Erza was walking towards her. Mira moved closer, reaching her arm out. Spinning around, she noticed that everyone in the room was staring at her now. Everything was moving in slow motion. She could feel her breath catch in her throat, her heart was pumping so hard that she couldn't hear anything else but its' beating inside her head. She shoved Mira's hand away and stepped back further. Other people were beginning to stand up now. Her breath was coming in short sharp bursts and she could feel a cold sweat trickling down her back. She looked towards the guild doors, trying to force her brain to plan an escape route. People were beginning to move towards her now, Erza was right behind her and Mira was moving to stand in front of her again blocking her way. Steeling herself, she pushed her way past Mira, knocking her to the ground, and sprinted for the door. She had to dodge the hands of some of her fellow Guild mates as they reached out, grasping for her. She yanked the doors open and, without stopping to close them and sprinted foward. Once she was well outside of Magnolia's borders she glanced behind her. No one was following her, but she no longer cared. She had to get away from the starring, prying eyes of everyone in the guild. She couldn't stand the looks. Mostly, she couldn't stand to look again and see her sister, her cheek covered in gauze from a wound that she had inflicted. Without looking back again, she kept on running.


	14. Aftermath of a Fight

Meshiro sat in the back of the guild looking at a few request pages while drinking a cup of tea. Her cheek still stung, but it looked much worse than it actually felt. Unfortunately, Wendy had left on a mission early that morning and was going to be gone for some time, or the injured girl would have asked her if she could fix it up, and with Athena not due back until tomorrow, she knew healing was going to have to wait. She didn't want her sister to have to see what she had done. She held onto hope that Akajii had struck her without fully thinking of the consequences and was probably on her way to apologize and make up with her now. Erza came back over and sat down in the seat she was previously occupying. She was supposed to have left with Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Wendy as well, but had decided to stay behind. She was holding a few requests of her own now too, easy ones that could be performed around town.

"Thinking of going on a request I see?" She asked Meshiro curiously.

"Yeah, I want to go out with my group when Athena gets back."

"Maybe you should give JiJi some space for a bit."

Meshiro looked up in shock, "W-what do you mean?" She stammered. "Why would I need to give her space?"

"Well, seeing as she's the one who gave you that cut on your cheek, I have a hard time believing that she would want to go on any missions to quickly," She stated knowingly.

Meshiro put down the paper she had been examining and looked at her tea, "How did you know it was Akajii's doing?"

"I've seen my fair share of injuries Shiro, and you don't get a cut like that with all that bruising by running into a tree branch. That's more like an injury that came from a well-placed backhand, and I think she may have also added a little bit of her wood-maker magic to the hit as well, knowingly or unknowingly." She said. Erza was right though. When she woke up this morning and changed the gauze, she was shocked to see the bruises left behind as well as the large swollen cut on her cheek. Her sister was obviously not holding anything back when she had hit her.

"She didn't mean to, I know she didn't. I was a little too quick to divulge those secrets last night to you guys. She was mad because I should have waited for Athena to come back before telling anyone like we've discussed. Akajii sometimes gets a little too angry is all. She has always had a hard time dealing with her emotions, but we've always had Athena or Michi around to help talk her down. I think things have just been getting a little too stressful for her" She defended.

"If it's stressful for her, then you'd be feeling it too, but I don't really see you striking her first, or back after she hit you. Besides, you ladies are what, twenty-seven? By now, she should have a better handle on her anger," Her frustration was starting to show as she continued on. "High-stress levels or not, there is no reason to hit your teammate in anger like she did. When your sister gets here, I think we should give her a stern talking to about controlling her emotions."

As if on cue, Meshiro heard her sister call out her name from the other side of the guild. She peeked around the armored girl in front of her and was shocked at what she saw. Her sister looked disheveled. Her short red hair, which was naturally unruly like their Father's, was messier than ever as if she hadn't even tried to brush it this morning. When she looked at Meshiro, she looked relieved for a second, but that quickly dissolved into a look of horror, most likely because of the bandage on her face. Erza sighed and slowly stood up, turning around to talk to Akajii.

When her sister realized that Erza had stood up and was staring at her, a look of fear came over her, which confused Meshiro, because her sister was normally fearless, often times reckless, when caution should be used. Now, she backed up in fright, bumping into Mirajane. Her white-haired friend looked at her with concern seeing Akajii's fear, so she tried to say something to her that Shiro couldn't catch. Instead of being comforted, her sister backed up again, looking around in terror. Mira reached out her hand to steady her, but she pushed it away.

The Guild had taken notice of the commotion and some were standing up to get a better view. This seemed to set Akajii into a state of panic. She went pale and had sweat dripping visibly down her body, and was looking around like a trapped animal, her breath coming in harsh rasps that even Meshiro could hear. Erza started walking towards her, calling out soothingly, trying to calm her down and Mira had stepped in front of Akajii to block her way. She was talking to her also, trying to get the red-head to focus on her.

Akajii looked around in fear and confusion again, then she slammed into Mirajane and forcefully pushed her to the floor. This caused many of the guild members to rush forward to help capture the crazed girl. She dodged all of the well-meaning hands reaching out to grab her easily and sprinted out the door, running faster than she had ever seen her sister run before. No one else tried to give chase but Meshiro, but she was held back by a firm grip on her arm. She turned around to chastise whoever it was but stopped short when she saw Lisanna holding her arm. She had a knowing look in her eyes that made Meshiro stop struggling to free herself.

"Your sister needs to be alone right now," She said simply, an almost pained look in her eyes.

"No," She said pleadingly. "She needs me. Please. She looked so scared."

"I know, but it all started when she saw the bandage on your cheek," She said carefully. "Did you guys have a fight last night?"

Meshiro nodded her head without saying a word and slumped miserably to the seat behind her. "It's all my fault." She whispered.

Lisanna sat down next to her and finally removed her grip. "If you had a fight, its both of your fault. It's hard to fight someone who doesn't respond," She said with a wisdom beyond her years. "Come on. How about we go back to your seat and you can finish your tea. I'll sit with you and you can tell me all about it." Lisanna gently placed a hand on Shiro's shoulder, standing her up and steering her back to her seat.


End file.
